The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1887-04-02

cuaTdcbcIS say VI WonChs nv" Why
swallow gallons of the juice of tea,
while their own dock leaves are trod-
den underfoot?'' This, however, was
but echoing the views Of economists of
the times, who had said that if such a
decoction were to become necessity it
was ridiculous to pay heavily for what
could just as easily be made out of sage
and bramble leaves. Another COM
plant of the period against this
new fashion of tea drinking was
that it gave rise to gossip and
backbiting. There is letter in the
Gentlen,an's Magazine for 1875 finding
fault with ladies ''who make their tea
table the mart to dispense scandal and
attack regulations" and later we have
a writer in the Connossseur bewailing
the loss of time and the PROCLAMATION of
the Sabbath consequent upon Sunday
evening tea drinking. The beverage
had by this time become pretty much a
favorite at social gatherings through
out the country and neither the econo-
mists nor the wits could counterfeit
what was quickly becoming popular
demand. Beside, tea had its champions
as well as its detractors. DIR. johnson
came to the rescue among others and
boldly confessed himself "a hardened
and shameless tea drinker, who has for
many years diluted his meals with the
infusion of this fascinating plant, whose
kettle has scarcely time to cool; who
with tea amnses the evening, with tea
solaces the midnight and with tea well
comes the morning." When we get to
Colley Cibber, we find the beverage
apostrophized in this fashion-''Tea,
thou soft, thou sober, safe and venerable
liquid; thou female tongue-running.
smile-smothing, heart-opening and
wink-tipping cordial. to whose glorious
insipidity I owe the happiest moments
of my life." Waller has the lines:
The Muses. friend, tea does our fancy aid.
Repress those vapors which the head invade,
And keeps the palace OF the soul serene,
Fit ON her birthday to salute the Queen.
Nor should Cowper's delightful home
picture be forgotten in this connection,
if only to give the original form of the
modified words chosen as the title of
this sketch:
Now stir the fire and close the shutters fast,
And while the bubbling and loud kissing urn
Throws up o steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate. wait on each,
To let US welcome peaceful evening In.
The question seems to have arisen
very early in the use of tea as to the
amount of the infusion which one might
safely take. Several medical men had
pronounced it not only safe itself, but
as conducive to health; and Leyden
physician, writing in 1871, commends it
as panacea for almost every ailment
and does not think that 200 cups daily
would be too much even for moderate
drinker! This, however, was interested
testimony, the physician in question
having, it is said, been brought over
for the purpose by the Dutch East
India Company. At the same time.
there have been tea drinkers whose APP
petite for the beverage was virtually
Unsuitable. It was not unusual for
Robert Hall, the divine, to swallow
twenty cups at sitting. To johnson.
as already indicated. the beverage
never came amiss. There is story in
which Sir Joshua Reynolds is credited
with reminding him that he had just
drunk eleven cups. Sir" said John
son, II did not count your glasses of
wine. why should you number my cups
Of tea" Then he playfully added, IF
it had not been for your remark, 1
should have released the lady from any
further trouble; but you have reminded
me that want one of the dozen and l
must ask the lady to round up the
number" The story does not end
here, for we are assured that as john
son was slipping his twelfth cup he told
how, on one occasion, being invited to
a party to be made lion of, he had his
revenge by swallowing twenty-five cups
of tea and not treating his hostess to as
many words. The right method of
preparing tea for drinking was not
at first'easily understood. The Chinese
say we have not mastered the secret
yet; but we have undoubtedly improved
upon the instructions left by an
authority in the last century, whose adj
vice was either to boil and drink the
liquid when the leaves settle to the bot
tom, or steep the tea overnight in cold
water and boil in the morning before
drinking. Crude as this system was, it
was preferableto boiling the leaves and
then. eating them with butter, pepper
and salt, as was done in some country
places in ignorance of the proper use Of
the plant. There is reference also to
custom last century of first serving the
leaves between thin slices of bread and
butter and eating them as a delicacy.